30 Doradus Nebula, Visible and Infrared Comparison

This is a close-up view of a star-birth region within the 30 Doradus nebula that lies inside the satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, 170,000 light-years away. A Hubble Space Telescope view in visible light (left) reveals glowing clouds of hydrogen and dark filamentary structures of dust.
When viewed by Hubble in near-infrared light (right), innumerable stars and protostars can be seen behind the dusty veil. Newly formed stars are often embedded in clouds of dust, and only the near-infrared light can pass through these clouds.
This set of images was taken with the Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Sabbi (STScI)